Fiscal Fast – 7 days no spending (at all)

[Deleted User]

Hi lessonlearned, im doing it. Restarted Wednesday, and am on day 4 now. Im trying to not buy anything, i bye uht milk so have about 2 litres left, which will last. Good luck to you

[Deleted User]

Just got my small bit of shopping this morning so am set for at least a week of NSDs as my menus are all planned out and I have more than enough to get through the week on I am under budget at the moment for this month which I am really pleased about and this morning I'm set to do some serious baking with cakes a quiche and some soup to make .So definitely no shops at all this week :):)

[Deleted User]

Jackie good luck with it - i have to say, even though we have enough supplies to open a shop, i just find it hard not to spend. If i last till Thursday, which is 8 days, that will bring me back on track with my grocery budget and give me £10 per week to last till end of week

[Deleted User]

It is a bit unusual at first not going shopping at all for a week, but it does give you so much more time to do other things.As I come out from my house if I turn left I can walk to the shops in around two minutes (sounds good, but its expensive if you do that every day ) whereas if I turn right I can walk to the library (5 minutes) the park (10 minutes, also the swimming baths which is on the other side of the park) Far healthier to turn right, and it saves a fortune.:) Menu planning helps as well as I have printed up a week's menus stuck to the fridge with blu-tack so I know exactly what I shall be eating for the coming week so I can see that I have all the ingrediants all ready in store.I'm not one for aimlessly wandering around the shops thank goodness and I know if I did I would be tempted by this or that offer .So unless its urgently needed (and I can always find a substitute) then I just don't go to the local precinct at all.:):):)

Kittikins

Well I've just bought lots of stuff in MrT's, lots of YS goodies and other bits that I probably didn't need....but was feeling hungry and a bit fed up and oddly enough buying food in those situations feels like the 'right thing' to do, far less guilt involved than buying clothes or a magazine.

So....given that I have borrowed out of the car tax fund quite a bit recently, I'm going to declare next week a no-spend week. We have enough of EVERYTHING (with the possible but hopefully not, exception of petrol) that we could need for the next week.

SpikyHedgehog

I'm reading through the whole thread on my phone, so it's taking me some time, but can I join?

Till I started to read, I thought it was about spending nothing, no direct debits, no transport, etc. Which would make it hard as we need bus fares for getting to school and work, and if it's the school holidays, it's even harder not to spend!

I went shopping last Wednesday, and got a big shop, and want to wait till Saturday to get any more fruit, veg, or milk.

We will need bus fares, which at a maximum come to £26.60 per week, and I need to give something for a charity day at work tomorrow. Oh gosh, typing all this out and I keep remembering more I've got to pay out! I'm in work early on Thursday which means taxi to get DS2 to school then onto work, and that will be another £8+ (different taxi drivers charge for waiting or not...). So I'm going to allow us £40 for the week for bus fares etc.

I've just checked my purse, and I've got £12 plus assorted coppers in there. So, £2 to DS1 tomorrow for bus fare, £2 plus the assorted change into the breast cancer collection thing, my bus fare. And I'll go to the bank and get another £30 out in bus fare change.

Everything else is on DDs so I'm not going to think about those.

DS1's bus fare to 6th form is £2 a day for a child day rover, but if he gets a single and walks home, he can keep the £1.

My bus fare varies... The most it will be for me is the day DS2 has his music lesson, so we get the bus to school with his (heavy) baritone, so that's a single for him, and a return for me to go onto work. When I leave work, it's in time to get the bus back to the village his school is in to get him from school; but if he has an after school club, I've been being a bit lazy and unMSE and getting one bus one and another bus out to the village later... Well, that's £2.50 more than I need to be spending.

Hence so much chat about bus fares... as that's where we both need to spend and have extra spending, and have a temptation in the form of 'going to the cashpoint to get bus fare and to the shop next door to get change...'

The other temptations are 'Oh gosh, I haven't made bread, here have school dinners and I'll get something from the bakers' shop near work!' and 'Oh crumbs, I'm far too worn out to cook dinner, let's have chips'. Also this week, I have to go to T3scos to take some things back/get exchanged, so there's a huge temptation there!

Oh dear, I think I'm going to talk myself out of this if I don't hurry up and post! So, umm, here goes!!

[Deleted User]

Hi everyone, today will be day 7 for me. Theoretically i have not spent anything, not even on fares - except for an advance ticket to go see my daughter at uni for the weekend. The reason i bought it yesterday, was i found a half price return. I was going to wait until Wednesday when my challenge was over, but i thought it was stupid because the price could have gone up by then, other than that i have spent a big fat zilch and hopefuly i can last today, when i am going out with my friend and his little girl, i will just have to refuse to go near any shops otherwise i will crack, i do have a bit of the self destruct about me. Anyhow good luck to everyone doing this and i will report tonight if i manage to complete it.
JackieO - yes, turning right sounds a much better way to go
Spikyhedgehog - good luck if you decide to go ahead with it

[Deleted User]

my DD gave me some left over beef on Sunday night as there wasn't enough to make a meal for the six of them,last night I minced it up added some onion,chopped mushrooms(all from the freezer) and a handful of oats and a thick gravy made from and oxo cube and a spoonful of bisto powder and topped with mashed potato and made some small individual cottage pies for the freezer. I have now three dinners in the freezer for me during the week which I can use with veg for free.My son-in-law was going to give the beef to the dogs until he saw how horrified I was at the thought of best beef ending up in a dogs tum :)

SpikyHedgehog

Gave DS2 his bus fare yesterday & today (he had half day@6th form today, & walked home, so now has £1 to pay for posting his driving license off to DVLA). I had a lift to work, but got the bus from work to get DS2 from school, & had the already committed spend for Breast cancer awareness (£1 for wearing pink, £1.40 for 7 little cakes, 1 that each other staff member had made).

DS2 & I didn't get home till half five, & I really didn't want to cook, especially as the kitchen was messy. But I put the water on for rice, got the washing off the line, put the rice in the now boiling water & tidied up while sorting stir fry, of OOD tofu & OOD stir fry mix I'd got last week... It wasn't very nice, & DS1 (who later admitted to a sandwich when he'd got in from 6th form) wouldn't finish his. I added a spoonful of lime pickle to mine to help get through the lime pickle that no-one else likes, & it was edible. I'll stick to prepping my own veg next time though! We had cakes from work as pudding.

I'm not really well at the moment, & work told me to have the rest of the week off (except Thursday, when other staff are off). So today I bussed DS2& baritone to school, a friend gave me a lift home & I used the return ticket to go & get DS2 from after school club.

I've resisted going to the corner shop for juice or something quick for lunch for DS1& me & had ginger & lemon tea & microwaved baked potatoes for lunch.

we're having mushroom stroganoff & rice for dinner before DS1 goes to Scouts, & I'll bake some bread tonight as well as some snacking stuff. More jam crumblies, I think! I want something in for when DS1 gets home from Scouts or he'll be tempted to wander in the shop as he goes past...

We've spent £9.30 on bus fares. In 2 days. That's scary!

And I got money back from stuff I'd bought for work yesterday, so have £10 more than I'd expected

nannygladys

Hi everyone, I pop in here every so often, take on board all good advice, follow it for a couple of weeks and then go back to what I was doing before and end up in a worse mess than before!! so Ive had my LBM and Im starting again with a fiscal fast for as long as I can manage. It all started today when I came out of As*a having spent £61 on food:eek: (theres only me!!) £8 in Ald* and £15 in Home*argains, I needed food or so I thought but when I went to put it away the cupboards and freezer were already full and only fridge needed a few things in it!! and then I wonder why I never get out of my OD LOL So 'my names Jane and I spend far too much money':( I reckon I can probably go at least 7 days without spending anything but its going to be a challange so I will have to come on here everyday to keep myself going.

I made a chilli this am and as I cant freeze any I have enough for the next two days dinners, so thats a start, and I have bread and milk to last as well.

Sorry for long post but I have to get my head round this spending on food etc

Jxx